posted at 6:31 pm on March 24, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

It does seem increasingly feasible — Sen. Rob Portman recently came out in support of gay marriage earlier this month, which might pave the way for some more Republican politicians to follow suit — although I think at this point it’s more likely we’re looking at a hard-fought battle between the true-north social conservative approach and the federalism tack, with Rand Paul’s hands-off strategy thrown in the mix, too.

This came up of course, in discussion about the upcoming gay marriage cases being reviewed by the Supreme Court this week, which are going to have some heavy implications for the national debate when the decisions come in:

The front-lines of the gay marriage debate move this week to the Supreme Court, as it considers two cases which have the potential to redefine marriage on a national level.

The arguments come at a time of changing views, with support for gay marriage becoming a mainstream Democratic position and the issue causing a sharp divide among Republicans.

The first case the court will take up, on Tuesday, is California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. The court on Wednesday weighs the Defense of Marriage Act, considering a provision that defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purpose of deciding who can receive a range of federal benefits.

Update: I changed my headline from the GOP nominee to a GOP candidate — more concise!